The Real Real was the first website I ever came across that sold pre-owned luxury fashion. I was still in college and definitely not able to afford buying any clothing, let alone luxury, so actually buying anything from the site was kind of out of the question. Still, stumbling upon a site like that was the first time that I felt that buying luxury fashion could be in my future. Fast forward about 7 years and I’m obsessed with the site.
The Real Real is a pre-owned luxury website that also has a few brick-and-mortar locations in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. All of their items come authenticated and checked for quality, which is super important when dealing with luxury goods.
The Shopping Experience
Shopping The Real Real is super easy. They have tons of filters so you can narrow your search down by size, condition, price, and brand. I ended up finding an amazing pair of Saint Laurent suede boots in pristine condition. Originally, these boots were in the $1000-$1500 price range, but I ended up paying less than $300 including shipping.
When someone sells something on The Real Real, it has already been sent to one of the store’s offices where it’s authenticated, photographed, and put into their inventory. Because they’re in physical possession of the piece, you don’t have to worry that photos aren’t accurate or that the item won’t ever be shipped out.
The Buying Experience
The Real Real does offer financing through Affirm if you fall in love with a piece that is still a little bit out of your price range. While I’ve used Affirm to finance large furniture purchases, I’ve actually never used it on a clothing site.
As far as the shipping goes, The Real Real is able to compete with the shipping times from regular department stores because they’ve already authenticated the item and have it in their possession.
My shoes arrived via UPS in about a week. The only thing I didn’t like was that they didn’t require a signature for my delivery. While that may not be as big of a deal when you’re dealing with $300 shoes, if I were to purchase a Saint Laurent jacket for $2000, I would definitely want a signature to be required.
The Product
These shoes are amazing, and I’m not even exaggerating. They really were “Pristine” as listed in the description of the item. There wasn’t a single mark on them, including the soles. They came in a The Real Real dust bag instead of a box, but I’m not someone who stores shoes in their original boxes so that didn’t really bother me.
Overall, I loved buying from The Real Real. They’re definitely going to be one of my main sources for pre-owned luxury fashion in the future.
